I'm currently making flower garlands that I found at http://ptepimprenelle.canalblog.com/archives/2010/12/11/19843684.html for the Sweat Shoppe swap and was asked for the pattern, so I wrote down how I make them. I think the original post has bigger inner petals, and does six a petal blossom, but when I worked with white and pink yarn, I thought of apple blossom and sakura, and switched to five petals. The pattern can easily made with six though.

I'd rate the difficulty above beginner's because it contains many different stitches, but I think with some help on the first ones, even beginners will find them easy.

Five minute sakura pattern

You need some yarn and a hook that matches the yarn in size.

abbreviations:ch - chain stitchsl - sling stitchdc - double crochet (US reading, for the UK: treble)hdc - half double crochetddc - two double crochet stitches worked together (yarn over, get yarn, work two sling off hook, and keep two slings on the hook, yarn over, get yarn, work two slings, obtain three slings on hook, pull yarn through all three)for the ddc also see tutorial above

1) ch3, dc in first stitch (completes first inner petal), ch2, work *ddc, ch 2* four times (five if you want a flower with six petals), close round with sling stitch in top stitch of first petal

2) work a sl, but not through the next stitch, but under it (that's a ch you're wrapping your sl around), work *ch1, 5dc, hdc, sl* in each gap between inner petals, always working under the ch, not through them.If you want entirely symmetric petals, make them *ch1, hdc, 4dc, hdc, sl*

3)finish off, weave in endsyou can avoid one weaving in procedure, if you work your inner petals not only around the first loop, but also around the yarn end, then you only have to cut it off when you're done with your first round - saves lots of nerve!

Tutorial on the inner petal

work a dc, but don't finish the last two loops and leave them on your hook

work another unfinished dc, which leaves you with three loops on your hook

finish all three loops in one go

that's the inner petal!(Unfortunately it does NOT feature the crochet-over-your-starting-end trick, I'm very sorry! I hope I have good light tomorrow so I can take new pictures.)

Bonus pattern: tiny blossom (see first picture)

1) ch6, close to a ring with a sl(ch more if you need room for more petals)2) repeat *ch1, hdc, 2 dc, hdc, sl* 5 timesfasten off, weave in ends, that's it! Look into the trick from above for crocheting over the starter yarn end to save one weaving in procedure

Can you expound on the ddc, and/or give me more direction with the original site. I tried looking there, but I don't see anything that looks like a tutorial, and it's in (I think) French, so I can't figure out what to click on.

The French site 'petite pimprenelle' where I saw the garland didn't have a tutorial, I saw them and tried to make them, because I have a similar garland in felt and thought it'd be nice to have a matching one in crochet. I'm pretty certain that the pimprenelle flowers weren't made from two dc crocheted together, but from three, and those probably not crocheted together at all. It was how I tried making them, and when I liked the look, I kept it. ddc isn't a real technical term I think, I just didn't want to come up with an abbreviation for "two halfway done double crochet stitches worked together" or so. Over the weekend I have access to a better camera, maybe I can take a better set of pictures then!

This is an amazing pattern!Thanks to you, I have *finally* made a flower! Yay!However, I need you to clarify a little something for me? How do I finish off the last petal, thus finishing the flower?Thanks!

By the classic just-anyhow *cough*OK, I'll try to put it in some more words...first, after finishing the last petal, I pull the loop on my hook very long, about a finger's length, and cut the threadI pull that thread through the beginning of the first petal (at the glorious position of just-somewhere ) and pull the two petals closer together (my method isn't really that good as there remains a little gap, I should probably choose a different just-somewhere)on the back side of the flower, I knot the thread around something and weave the rest through at least three more stitches before cutting it right above the flower so it disappears. I even sometimes knot the end twice, even if my kids are now well out of the chewing age Anyway, cutting the thread long, knotting it into the back well and weaving the end in, that should hold the flower up for a while. Maybe I fuss more because it's cotton and the end doesn't felt itsself in somewhere.

Congrats on finally making a flower! I felt the same - I was asked once to make up a flower on the spot for someone, and found myself only coming up with wonky thingies... after having made complicated stuff before... so making these little blossoms kind of healed my hurt pride over it

these are fab! i love them, such an easy to follow tute as well, AND you included the british terminology as well, thankyou sooo much i'm bookmarking this for later in the week when i'm finished with the baby booties i'm working on atm